Method and apparatus for acoustic logging of fluid density and wet cement plugs in boreholes

ABSTRACT

A method of determining the acoustic impedance of a fluid in a borehole, by gating a reflected acoustic signal into a plurality of time slots, and comparing received energies of the signal for the time slots to obtain a value indicative of the acoustic impedance of the fluid. The value may be normalized to yield the acoustic impedance of the fluid using the acoustic impedance of, e.g., water as a calibration point. The comparison is performed by comparing a ratio of an integration of a first ring down time slot and a second ring down time slot, to an integration of an internal reflection time slot. The acoustic pulse may be generated using a transducer immersed in an intermediate fluid contained within a chamber defined in part by a plate in contact with the borehole fluid and having a thickness such that a mechanical resonance frequency of the plate in a thickness mode is substantially equal to a resonance frequency of the transducer. The sonic velocity of the fluid is also measured and, when combined with the acoustic impedance, is used to determine the fluid density.

This is a Division of application Ser. No. 09/141,796, filed Aug. 28,1998, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,141.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to devices for measuring fluidproperties, and also generally relates to oil and gas well (borehole)logging tools. More particularly, the invention relates to an improvedmethod and apparatus for determining the density of drilling fluid bymeasuring the acoustic impedance and the sonic velocity of the fluid ina borehole. The same method and apparatus can be used to locate anddetermine the quality of a downhole wet cement abandonment plugpositioned in a borehole.

2. Description of Related Art

In various industrial processes that involve fluid material, it isuseful to know the properties of the fluids involved. These fluidproperties include, for example, density, compressibility, reflectance,acoustic impedance, viscosity and attenuation. Knowledge of the valuesof these various properties can be used to adjust process parameters orwarn of impending calamity. In many applications, such as oil and gaswell (borehole) drilling, fluid density is of particular interest. It isimportant to know the density of drilling fluid (also referred to asdrilling mud) during a drilling operation, in order to prevent a blowoutof the well.

In a drilling operation, drilling fluid is pumped down the drill string(essentially a very long pipe), exits at the drill bit, and then returnsto the surface within an annulus formed between the outside of the pipeand the inside of the borehole. As the bit drills into the geologicformations, it passes through zones containing various fluids, includinglightweight fluids such as saltwater, oil (hydrocarbons), and naturalgas. If the pressure within the zone is greater than the pressure withinthe borehole, these fluids will enter the borehole and mix with thedrilling fluid. When the aforementioned lightweight fluids mix withdrilling fluid, its density decreases. If the total weight of fluidwithin the borehole decreases too much, it can lead to a blowout when ahigh-pressure zone is entered. It is therefore very important that thedensity of the drilling fluid be accurately monitored. In producingwells the fluid density, with other measurements, is used to infer theproportions of oil, water and natural gas that the well is producing atvarious depths in the well. Logging tools for measuring fluid densityare well known.

One common prior-art technique for measuring drilling fluid densityinvolves the use of acoustic transducers, particularly ultrasonictransducers, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,693. That device usesan ultrasonic transducer coupled to the body of a probe to transmit andreceive a signal across a first solid/fluid interface and a secondfluid/solid interface, in order to measure the sound velocity of thefluid. A second signal is a reference signal generated by reflection offa surface that is hermetically sealed from contact with the fluid.Measurement of the signals reflected off the two surfaces are used tocalculate reflectance and acoustic impedance, from which density may beinferred.

One problem encountered with the foregoing approach is that anultrasonic transducer can lose the acoustic coupling, that is, theability to transfer the acoustic energy, when in poor contact with thebody of the tool, which is typically built of a metal material such assteel. It only requires a very small gap (in the thousands of an inch)to lose nearly 100% of the transmitted energy, since a vacuum does nottransmit any sound.

Another problem encountered in such prior art fluid density measurementtechniques is that, during the measurement of the velocity of sound inthe fluid, the signal must pass through two solid/fluid and fluid/solidinterface-transmissions, plus one fluid/solid interface-reflection.Since the acoustic impedance difference between metals and fluids is onthe order of 30 to 1, only about 2% of the transmitted signal is everreceived back. This loss of signal does not take into consideration thefurther attenuation suffered during propagation of the signal in thefluid and the metal.

The foregoing prior-art method clearly cannot be used to measure theproperties of heavy drill fluids, oil-based drill fluids, or wet cementabandonment plugs, where the signal attenuation at ultrasonicfrequencies is very high, well above 20 dB/inch attenuation rate. In oiland gas producing areas, it is often necessary to permanently isolatedifferent strata by placing cement plugs at selected locations along theborehole. A cement abandonment plug is placed in the open hole bypumping a special mixture of water and cement down the drill pipe,displacing the drilling mud within the pipe and the surrounding area ofthe borehole. The drill pipe is then raised until it is above the wetplug. After placement of the wet plug in the borehole, the location ofthe top of the plug must be determined to ensure that the plug has therequired size. Prior art techniques for locating and determining thequality of downhole wet cement abandonment plugs, such as that describedin U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,916, do not, however, locate both the top andbottom of the cement plug. That method in particular is invasive (takinga sample of the cement for further analysis at the surface), and verytime-consuming in operating the sample chamber to draw cement into thechamber, costing rig time, and incurring the associated risk andexpense.

Other prior-art methods and apparatuses for measuring the fluid densityin boreholes, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,939,362 and5,204,529, include the use of either chemical radio-active sources orelectrically-activated radioactive sources, which present clearenvironmental and health hazards. It is therefore apparent that a needexists for an improved acoustic well logging tool and method todetermine the density of fluid in boreholes. It would be furtheradvantageous if the tool and method included the detection and thedetermination of the quality and location of wet cement abandonmentplugs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide animproved acoustic logging tool for use in determining the density of adrilling fluid.

It is another object of the present invention to provide such animproved logging tool which uses measurements of sound velocity andacoustic impedance to determine the density of the drilling fluid.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such animproved logging tool which may be used to determine the density ofdrilling fluid or a wet cement abandonment plug.

The foregoing objects are achieved in a method of determining theacoustic impedance of a fluid in a borehole, generally comprising thesteps of generating an acoustic pulse adjacent the fluid, receiving asignal from the fluid reflecting the acoustic pulse, gating the signalinto a plurality of time slots, and comparing received energies of thesignal for the time slots to obtain a value indicative of the acousticimpedance of the fluid. The value may be normalized to yield theacoustic impedance of the fluid using the acoustic impedance of, e.g.,water as a calibration point. The comparing step is performed bycomparing a ratio of an integration of a first ring down time slot and asecond ring down time slot, to an integration of an internal reflectiontime slot. The acoustic pulse may be generated using a transducerimmersed in an intermediate fluid contained within a chamber defined inpart by a plate in contact with the borehole fluid and having athickness such that a mechanical resonance frequency of the plate in athickness mode is substantially equal to a resonance frequency of thetransducer. In one embodiment, the acoustic pulse has a frequency whichis substantially higher than the mechanical resonance frequency of theplate in the thickness mode, and the receiving step includes the furtherstep of receiving multiple echo reflections. Once the acoustic impedanceZ is known, the fluid density may be determined by measuring the sonicvelocity v of the fluid, and calculating the density ρ of the fluidaccording to the equation ρ=Z/v. The sonic velocity of the fluid ismeasured by disposing a pair of transducers with respective transmittingactive surfaces substantially parallel to each other and at oppositeends of an opening which directly exposes the active surfaces to thefluid, the active surfaces being separated by a known distance,transmitting an acoustic pulse from a first one of the pair oftransducers, receiving a signal through the borehole fluid, with asecond one of the transducers, and determining the sonic velocity basedon the known distance and a sound travel time of such signal.

The above as well as additional objectives, features, and advantages ofthe present invention will become apparent in the following detailedwritten description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are setforth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well asa preferred mode of use, further objectives, and advantages thereof,will best be understood by reference to the following detaileddescription of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of one embodiment of an acoustic logging toolconstructed in accordance with the present invention, having a pair ofultrasonic transducers placed at opposing ends of an opening in whichdrilling fluid, borehole fluid, or wet cement can flow;

FIG. 2 is block diagram of one embodiment of a circuit constructed inaccordance with the present invention, used to compute the acousticimpedance of a fluid based on signals derived from the transducers usedin the acoustic logging tool of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a graph depicting a resonance signal waveform when theacoustic logging tool of FIG. 1 is immersed in fresh water;

FIG. 4 is a graph depicting a resonance signal waveform when theacoustic logging tool of FIG. 1 is immersed in wet cement;

FIG. 5 is a graph depicting a sequence-echo signal waveform when theacoustic logging tool of FIG. 1 is immersed in fresh water;

FIG. 6 is a graph depicting sequence-echo signal waveform when theacoustic logging tool of FIG. 1 is immersed in wet cement; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of an acoustic loggingsystem using the logging tool of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF AN ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENT

With reference now to the figures, and in particular with reference toFIG. 1, there is depicted one embodiment 10 of an acoustic logging toolconstructed in accordance with the present invention. Acoustic loggingtool 10 is elongated and sized to travel within a borehole, and is shownin a cross-section passing through (parallel to) the longitudinal axisof the tool. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, tool 10 may beincorporated into a drill collar for downhole applications.

Tool 10 may be used to determine fluid density by measuring the acousticimpedance and the sonic velocity of fluids in a borehole. Tool 10 isgenerally comprised of a pair of ultrasonic transducers, 12 and 14,disposed with their respective transmitting active surfaces 16 and 18substantially parallel to each other, and both directly exposed to anopening 20 where drilling fluid, borehole fluid, or wet cement caneasily flow in and out as the tool travels along a borehole. Tool 10includes an elongated (cylindrical) body or housing 22 which has acentral portion or mandrel 24 that contains opening 20. Mandrel 24 maybe formed of any durable, corrosion resistant material, such asstainless steel, titanium, nickel alloys, etc. Suitable transducers arethose available from International Transducers Corp., of Santa Barbara,Calif.

Ultrasonic transducers 12 and 14 operate in a pitch-and-catch mode, inwhich one transducer acts as a transmitter while the other acts as areceiver. The circuit shown in FIG. 2 measures the sound travel time, asdescribed further below. The sound velocity in the borehole fluid orcement is derived by the simple relation$v = \frac{\Delta \quad T}{d}$

where ΔT is the sound travel time, and d is the transducer separationdistance. The velocity of sound can also be measured using a singletransducer (such as 12) and a reflective metal plate instead of thesecond transducer 14. In such a case, the distance travelled by thesonic signal is twice the separation between the transducer and theplate.

The present invention also allows acoustic logging tool 10 to measurethe acoustic impedance of the fluid. A third ultrasonic transducer 26which acts as both transmitter and receiver is immersed in anintermediate fluid 28 with known acoustic characteristics, such asvelocity of sound, density and sound attenuation. Fluid 28 is preferablya very low sound attenuation fluid or oil, such as Dow Corning DC-200 orTexaco-Capella. Transducer 26 is mounted in a mandrel insert orextension 30 forming part of tool body 22, and attached to mandrel 24.Extension 30 may again be constructed of any durable and resistantmaterial, such as stainless steel, titanium, nickel alloys, etc. Fluid28 is contained in a space defined by the end of extension 30 and a capor cover 32. A bottom steel plate 34 formed with cover 32 has one sideexposed to the borehole fluid, and the other side exposed to the oilchamber. The mechanical resonance frequency of the steel plate in thethickness mode is designed to be substantially equal to the resonancefrequency of the ultrasonic transducer. For stainless steel, thethickness of the plate in inches is determined by the equation${th} = \frac{k}{fr}$

where fr is the resonance frequency of the ultrasonic transducer inkilohertz, and k is a material constant. For stainless steel 304,k=56.5, and th is the thickness in inches. A suitable resonance methodfor determining acoustic impedance is described in U.S. Pat. No.4,255,798, which is hereby incorporated.

Feature 36 is a structural piece (bulkhead) which contains a hermeticelectrical connector. This feature seperates the fluid-filled volumes,which contain the transducers from an air-filled volume which containsthe processing electronics of FIG. 2. A threaded ring retains theconnector in the bulkhead.

A typical resonance signal waveform for water (e.g., fresh water havinga density of about 8.7 lbs/gal) is shown in FIG. 3, while FIG. 4 depictsa case for wet cement (e.g., having a density of about 16 lbs/gal). Aswill be further seen from the description below of the circuit of FIG.2, the illustrative embodiment of acoustic logging tool 10 uses water asa calibration point, with an acoustic impedance of 1.5 MKS Rayls. Inother words, the ratio of the integration of ring down windows 1 and 2(see FIGS. 3 and 4) to the integration of the internal reflection of thetool in the borehole fluid or cement, is compared (normalized) to thesame ratio when the tool is immersed in water. Comparison of theseratios yields the acoustic impedance Z. Once Z is determined then thedensity ρ, is calculated by the relation

ρ=Z/v.

It is a further object of the present invention to describe a method tomeasure the acoustic impedance of borehole fluids (including wet cementabandonment plugs) by means of multiple echo reflections. Transducer 26may operate at a substantially higher frequency than the mechanicalresonance frequency of the metal plate or target in the thickness mode.In the illustrative embodiment, the use of a frequency between five andten times that of the resonance of the plate was sufficient to separatethe multiple echoes. FIG. 5 shows a sequence-echo signal waveformexample of this method when the tool is in water, while FIG. 6 shows awaveform for wet cement. The same signal processing performed on theprevious method is applied here. The fluid density is determined in thesame manner using the same integration windows and formulas.

The foregoing electronic signal processing may be performed using thecircuit 40 of FIG. 2. A timer 42 starts a measurement cycle by signalinga pulser 44 to energize transducer 26. The acoustic pulse generated fromtransducer 26 travels out to the measured medium (via tuned plate 34),and some energy gets reflected back to the transducer and is amplifiedby receiver circuitry 46. The received energy is processed in three timeslots controlled by timer 42. The first part of the received signalprocessed is the internal reflection window 48. This signal is gatedinto a full wave rectifier 50 and then into an integrator 52. After thetime slot expires for internal reflection, the gate is turned off andthe voltage at the output of integrator 52 is the measured value ofinterest. The remaining parts of the signal are similarly gated withsimilar processing until all measurements of interest are made on thereturned energy. Specifically, the received signal is processed by thering down window 1 gate 54 into another rectifier 56 and then intoanother integrator 58, and is further processed by the ring down window2 gate 60 into another rectifier 62 and then into another integrator 64.

Timer 42 also starts a second pulser 66 to energize transducer 12, whichis used to transmit energy. This energy travels through the measuredmedium to transducer 14. The received energy is amplified by anotherreceiver 68 and is detected by a comparator 70. The transit time (ΔT) isconverted to a voltage by converter 72, and is the measured value ofinterest.

The measured voltage levels are converted into a timed sequence ofpulses by converter 74. The position in the sequence indicates whichmeasured value, and the voltage amplitude of the pulse is the measuredvalue. This sequence of pulses then goes to a line driver 76 which sendsthe information uphole for further processing into acoustic impedanceand travel time, and then further into fluid density, as earlierdescribed.

With further reference to FIG. 7, there is depicted one embodiment of anacoustic logging system 80 which utilizes tool 10 for borehole logging.System 80 is additionally comprised of a surface computer 82 connectedto tool 10, and a wireline 84 which lowers tool 10 into the well bore,as well as appropriate mechanical support as generally indicated at 86.Surface computer 82 may be used for data acquisition, analysis andstorage, and merges fluid density output data with raw measurements forstorage and presentation.

Although the invention has been described with reference to specificembodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limitingsense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well asalternative embodiments of the invention, will become apparent topersons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of theinvention. It is therefore contemplated that such modifications can bemade without departing from the spirit or scope of the present inventionas defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of determining the acoustic impedance ofa fluid, comprising the steps of: generating an acoustic pulse adjacentthe fluid; receiving a signal from the fluid reflecting the acousticpulse; gating the signal into a plurality of time slots; and comparingreceived energies of the signal for the time slots to obtain a valueindicative of the acoustic impedance of the fluid, wherein saidcomparing step includes the further step of comparing a ratio of anintegration of the signal over a first ring down time slot and a secondring down time slot, to an integration of the signal over an internalreflection time slot.
 2. The method of claim 1 comprising the furtherstep of normalizing the value to yield the acoustic impedance of thefluid using the acoustic impedance of water as a calibration point. 3.The method of claim 1 wherein said generating step includes the step oftransmitting the acoustic pulse from a transducer into an intermediatefluid contained within a chamber defined in part by a plate in contactwith the fluid and having a thickness such that a mechanical resonancefrequency of the plate in a thickness mode is substantially equal to aresonance frequency of the transducer.
 4. The method of claim 3 wherein:the acoustic pulse has a frequency which is substantially higher thanthe mechanical resonance frequency of the plate in the thickness mode;and said receiving step includes the further step of receiving multipleecho reflections.
 5. A method of determining the density of a fluid,using the acoustic impedance determining method of claim 1, and furthercomprising the steps of: normalizing the value to yield the acousticimpedance Z of the fluid; measuring the sonic velocity v of the fluid;and calculating the density ρ of the fluid according to the equationρ=Z/v.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein said step of measuring the sonicvelocity of the fluid includes the steps of: disposing a pair oftransducers with respective transmitting active surfaces substantiallyparallel to each other and at opposite ends of an opening which directlyexposes the active surfaces to the fluid, the active surfaces beingseparated by a known distance; transmitting an acoustic pulse from afirst one of the transducers; receiving a signal through the fluid witha second one of the transducers; and determining the sonic velocitybased on the known distance and a sound travel time of such signal. 7.An apparatus for determining the acoustic impedance of a fluid,comprising: means for generating an acoustic pulse adjacent the fluid;means for receiving a signal from the fluid reflecting the acousticpulse; means for gating the signal into a plurality of time slots; andmeans for comparing received energies of the signal for the time slotsto obtain a value indicative of the acoustic impedance of the fluid,wherein said comparing means further includes means for comparing aratio of an integration of the signal over a first ring down time slotand a second ring down time slot, to an integration of the signal overan internal reflection time slot.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7 furthercomprising means for normalizing the value to yield the acousticimpedance of the fluid using the acoustic impedance of water as acalibration point.
 9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said generatingmeans includes a transducer immersed in an intermediate fluid containedwithin a chamber defined in part by a plate in contact with the fluidand having a thickness such that a mechanical resonance frequency of theplate in a thickness mode is substantially equal to a resonancefrequency of the transducer.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein: theacoustic pulse has a frequency which is substantially higher than themechanical resonance frequency of the plate in the thickness mode; andsaid receiving means further includes means for receiving multiple echoreflections.
 11. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising: means fornormalizing the value to yield the acoustic impedance Z of the fluid;means for measuring the sonic velocity v of the fluid; and means forcalculating the density ρ of the fluid according to the equation ρ=Z/v.12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said measuring means furthercomprises: a pair of transducers disposed with respective transmittingactive surfaces substantially parallel to each other and at oppositeends of an opening which directly exposes the active surfaces to thefluid, the active surfaces being separated by a known distance; andmeans for determining the sonic velocity of the fluid based on the knowndistance and a transit time required for another acoustic pulse totravel from a first one of said transducers to a second one of saidtransducers.